Carter, who first opened up about his sexuality on Twitter on August 5, said in a new interview with The Bert Showtoday (August 9)that his admission was a long time coming, and a looming milestone birthday was one reason he finally decided to come clean.

“To be honest, I’ve been thinking about it for years," he said. "I just felt like it was something that I needed to do,” adding that he had a sexual experience at age 17 with a guy “that I had an attraction to.”

Carter said he's known he wasn't exclusively straight since he was 12, and said the older he gets, the more comfortable he is in his own skin.

“It was something that I just felt like was important and I needed to say. It was a part of a new chapter of turning 30, on December 7 this year,” he noted.

Carter also added that being open contributed to his breakup with longtime girlfriend Madison Parker.

“I had discussed it with my ex-girlfriend, and she didn’t really understand it. She didn’t want [to],” he said. “And that was it. So we left it mutual and parted ways. And that was it. So we left it mutual and parted ways.”